Page 4 of Heart of the Hunted
"That would be me," Arun told him.
"Only if you want to lose your money as well," Taredd said confidently.
"I think I'll go with... urm..."
"Seriously?" Arun said. "Just fucking pick one of us!"
"No need to be so testy," Dain said. "I'll go with Taredd to win."
"Oh, I see how it is," Arun told them. "You'll both be out of pocket when I win."
"That's if you win," Dain said.
"Oh, I will, and it will be more money for me when I do," he said smugly.
"Anyway, when do you want to start the bet?" Taredd asked, knowing what the answer would be before Arun even opened his mouth.
"There's no time like the present, don't you think," Arun said, confirming Taredd’s suspicion.
"You want to start it now?" When Arun nodded, Taredd added. "I thought you wanted a couple of days off?"
"I'll have a better time off when I've got one hundred gold pieces burning a hole in my pocket."
"Fine. It begins now, then." Taredd agreed.
At the end of the day he wasn’t going to complain, they were still going to be hunting. He would rather they worked as a group, but anything was better than nothing.
"Right, I'll see you both later. I've got a Human to hunt and a bet to win," Arun said before downing the last of his drink. Placing his empty glass on the counter, he stood and said, "See you two later." Then walked off.
"Do you think he's going to win?" Dain asked.
"No chance," Taredd said, shaking his head. "You've seen him hunting, do you really think he stands a chance against me?"
"Yeah, true. It's just, he seems more confident than I thought he would be."
Taredd knew exactly what Dain meant. If Taredd didn't know better, he would have thought Arun already knew where a Human was hiding. It was the only thing he could think off that would make Arun seem so confident. But no, it wasn't like Arun to cheat, and it would be cheating if he already knew where to find one.
"Nah, I think it's all an act. Arun knows I'm the better hunter, whether he wants to admit it or not."
"It's a good job he's not betting against me. At least with you he might stand a very slim chance of winning." Dain said, laughing.
Taredd didn't bother replying to that. Instead, he downed the last of his drink and stood to leave as well.
"I'm off to bed,” Taredd told him. “I want to get an early start in the morning."
"I can't believe you're cutting out early as well," Dain sulked.
"Would you rather I let Arun win?" Taredd asked with one brow raised.
"Oh, hell no. I would rather stick red hot pokers in my eyes than let him win," Dain said. "Can you imagine how annoying he would be if he did?"
"Exactly. So, it's best if I get an early-ish... night."
"Yeah, point made. Go to bed because I really don't want to give my gold to Arun."
Shaking his head, Taredd walked away. He wouldn't be surprised if Dain spent the rest of the night in the tavern. Even if Taredd didn't have the bet going with Arun, he didn't want to spend the rest of the night here. If anything, the bet gave him a good excuse to leave early.
He didn't have to go far to reach the motel where he was staying the night. It was a rundown place, but it had a bed and a place for him to wash, so it would do for the time being.
Climbing the stairs in the ratty old building, Taredd debated on whether to start the hunt tonight or wait until the morning. Stopping briefly outside Arun's room, he waited to see if he was still here. Taredd didn't hear anything, but that didn't mean Arun had already left. He could just be sleeping.
Deciding to stay the night and start fresh in the morning, Taredd carried on to his room further along the corridor. Even if Arun had begun hunting tonight, Taredd was happy to let him have a head start. After all, he was going to need all the advantage he could get if he was going to beat Taredd.
Closing the door behind him, Taredd made a beeline for the bed... or what passed for a bed around here. It wasn't the cleanest place in the world, far from it. Taredd could imagine it was probably a nice place to stay at one point, but that was many years ago.
Kicking his boots off, he sat on the end of the bed and looked around the room. Shitty as it was, it would do for the night. Tomorrow would be here soon enough and it was looking like it was going to be a long assed day, so tonight he was going to get as much rest as he could.
